Elton falls for play

The play “Next Fall” opened last night at the Helen Hayes. Produc ers? Elton John and his David Furnish.

The drama, which had a nice suc cess off-Broadway last year, suddenly became a wham bam slam glam opening. Cops. Walkie-talkies. Photographers. Public relations types with phones in every crevice announcing, “He’s on his way” . . . then . . . “He’s nearly here.” When it began to feel Elton must be coming from Cleveland, finally came the breathless whisper “He’s here.” Then: “We’re taking him in this entrance.”

Not your usual razzmatazz jazzed up Sir Elton. Except for little dangling diamond earrings (small stones), it was a dark striped suit. Proper tie. His Sirship could have been put together by Joe Biden‘s stylist. And why, how, did he get involved in this show?

“David originally saw it and told me, ‘I’ve just seen a spectacular piece of work. It’s wonderful.’ Our ‘Billy Elliot’ director also loved it. And a friend with whom I’m involved in another project wrote it. So they asked us to get involved.”

You put money in it?

“Yes,” said David.

“Yes,” said Elton. “And it wasn’t all that cheap.”

The subject matter spans a five-year relationship between two gay men. One young, a Southern Christian; the other, a nonbeliever. Although what they deal with could be in any relationship — even between a man and woman — one then has an accident. The parents didn’t know he was gay. The partner is excluded from seeing him.

But what about this so resonated with him that he felt impelled to become involved?

Against a wall in some dinky part of the theater, a somber quiet Elton John said: “David saw it several times. I read it several times. There’s some of us in it. Years back I had a relationship, and I had absolutely no idea in the world he was going to do this . . . he threw himself under a truck. There was so much grief . . .

“Look, we all need love. We all have the same fears and insecurities. We should all be allowed to be free.”

“It’s also the right timing for this,” said David Furnish. “The religious divide between right and left has gotten wider, and so the rights of gay people never got back to where it was heading.”

Right after curtain, Himself was on a plane. “I have five hours in England then off to South Africa to do something with Annie Lennox on my AIDS foundation. Back here April 1 for the ‘Billy Elliot’ opening in Chicago.”

Then: “This inaccuracy has had an effect in my own district as well as elsewhere. Unfortunately, refuting multiple repeated lies takes money.” So he then asks money “not simply to refute the misinformation against me but to expose this right-wing propaganda.” Also: “One of my political opponents has made an appeal for funds. Therefore it seems likely I’ll be the target of a national right-wing fund drive.”

Question: If these guys didn’t do this type stuff, what kind of work would they be out of?

THE Regency sends word they’ve cre ated a haroset cocktail — haroset being the classic fruit-and-nut dish symbolizing the mortar used to build the Pyramids — and that it would impress any bubby. Plus they promise a whole new Passover menu. Like what could be new? That hurried meal the ancient Jews had fleeing Egypt might now be Chinese food? Plus they sent a recipe to make my own gefilte fish. So this is to tell you, I might not have time to write columns next week. I’ll be busy chopping 8 pounds of carp and pike.

LAST year Marti Rulli wrote “Good bye Natalie Goodbye Splendour.” She’s now pushing to reopen the 28-year-old case of Natalie Wood’s drowning off her yacht Splendour, although the LA County coroner’s office ruled the death accidental and the sheriff states “Case closed.” I guess she figures if we can finally tie up Roman Polanski, we can finally tie up this one. Or, maybe, possibly, another reason could be that her paperback is out soon. In any case, she’s offering “new information” and exclusive interviews with Dennis Davern, the captain.

Why not just let Natalie rest in peace?

GEORGE GERSHWIN’s one-time apartment at 132 E. 72nd, where he composed “Porgy and Bess,” went for $3 mil . . . The Pacific Palisades home of another old-time icon Charles Laughton is the site of Barbara Corcoran‘s infomercial for an exercise machine she co-owns . . . Résumés from Paterson‘s staffers are hitting the mailboxes . . . Gabourey Sidibe, who had zero acting experience before “Precious”: “I was a pirate in ‘Peter Pan’ in school so I now tell people I dropped out of school to become a movie star.” . . . Jimmy Fallon reads 100 jokes a day. Ends up with 15 for the monologue . . .

TWO senior ladies strolling Mad Ave.: “Why’s everyone knocking the presi dent. Our country used to be so divided. Thanks to Obama we’ve all come together. Now we’re united against him.”